Besides the bitter cold, now I have Internet connection issues on the ol' computer. Joy.
Anyway, you don't want to hear me bellyache...I am here, though, to do some shameless promotion for a certain horror-fantasy novel I crafted and am publishing independently with big thanks to Lulu. Curious to know more? Then if you're fan of fantasy and horror fiction, this might be up your alley. As you read on, though, don't be surprised if the temperature where you are drops a few more degrees...don't be surprised if you feel a little fearful...
TO YOU, THE GENTLE READER:
The setting of "HELL KNIGHT" is in the heart of a nation known by its citizens as God's Country. The United States of America. It is in the heart of this nation a secret war is about to explode between the mortal and the immortal...
At the core of the conflict is a warrior who will come from the shadows...from a realm of indescribable, unspeakable nightmares. A realm where only evil reigns. And she can make many things possible.
Her mission will be unknowable to the mortal world, but she will have mortals serve her. They will be her army...they will kill and die for her. Her enemies are equally mysterious in their purpose, but they are monstrous. Vile beyond belief.
And they are legion.
This much the world will know...
By the sharp blades of her swords, she will make blood flow like a river.
But a detective in the heart of God's Country, haunted by her past, will become obsessed to understand the truth...understand why the bloody chaos is happening.
The truth will be beyond anything she can imagine.
It is a truth that threatens to change everything.
The truth will force a mortal detective to follow a relentless, ruthless warrior from another realm into the darkest of shadows.
Both will find an unexpected, shared destiny.
But in the end, only this warrior from another realm can do everything in her unworldly power to deny the change her enemies threaten to bring.
She will become the only hope for the mortal world...in spite of one extraordinary fact.
She came from Hell.
She is the Hell Knight.
GENTLE READER, TAKE WARNING:
"HELL KNIGHT" is for MATURE READERS ONLY.
This novel depicts extraordinary violence, mature language
and situations, and sexual content.
Want to know more?
In fact, would you like to know where you can read the first three chapters of this novel free online? You don't have to sign or log in to squat. All you have to do is go here at Yahoo! GeoCities...
http://www.geocities.com/hellknightnovel/index.html
If you enjoy the first three chapters of this 483-page novel, then just go to www.lulu.com to find out more, or go directly to these links for the eBook or softcover deluxe-size softcover...
eBook: http://www.lulu.com/content/1067597
paperback: http://www.lulu.com/content/1044061
There will be more to come, guaranteed...more about me, and more about "Hell Knight".
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
This day in history
We officially have a new President, ostensibly -- hopefully -- to lead our country to better days...at least, better than they are right now. This is a truly historic day, but of course it isn't just because we have a new President. It's historic because of the incidental fact our new President is of partly African ethnicity. (You don't want to know what I've read from some fools who aren't satisfied with that, that he isn't black enough. Chances are you might have come across those comments here and there online.)
That incidental fact alone of his ethnicity, many say, is alone reason for hope.
I hope you'll pardon me but I don't hope based on politics. Or incidental facts. Or on this massive advertisement for better days called Inauguration Day.
My thoughts turn dark and very cynical when it comes to politics. I wouldn't be overstating the fact to say I hate politics and what they've done to the process of electing one person or another to a given office. And politics have only gotten worse since the 1950's, since television (love it or hate it) began showing up in American living rooms.
Today, strangely enough, I got to watch something on cable as I ignored all of the fanfare, pomp and circumstance of Washington after Barack Obama was sworn in. "A Face in the Crowd", 1957, wasn't exactly appropriate viewing considering we're supposed to be so optomistic today, but if you want to see how politics and advertising (one and the same thing) really work it's required viewing. It predicted that image would become more important than the message, and those with the most money decided who got the most television exposure. Money, political and corporate, decided that Andy Griffith's Lonesome Rhodes would become a power -- a would-be President-maker -- in his own right, and he has never been scarier.
And that's the reality of politics in the modern day. Image and money, from special interests and big business, is what talks. Or at least approves the speeches and charts the course of campaigns. Bullshit walks.
The irony that our new President's swearing in comes the day after the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday hasn't been ignored. I definitely haven't ignored it, or one of the greatest lessons he had to teach us:
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today."
No one voted for Barack Obama just because he was black, and the incidental fact that he is black shouldn't matter in the context of his being President. One great man dreamed that character would be judged before one's skin color one day...but according to our political process, now more than ever, it's how one looks when they make their speeches that must be judged. But hopefully, even though the political process I've learned to hate brought him to the highest office in our country, I hope that his character will shine through and indeed bring our nation to better days.
Good luck to you, Mister President.
Good luck to all of us.
That incidental fact alone of his ethnicity, many say, is alone reason for hope.
I hope you'll pardon me but I don't hope based on politics. Or incidental facts. Or on this massive advertisement for better days called Inauguration Day.
My thoughts turn dark and very cynical when it comes to politics. I wouldn't be overstating the fact to say I hate politics and what they've done to the process of electing one person or another to a given office. And politics have only gotten worse since the 1950's, since television (love it or hate it) began showing up in American living rooms.
Today, strangely enough, I got to watch something on cable as I ignored all of the fanfare, pomp and circumstance of Washington after Barack Obama was sworn in. "A Face in the Crowd", 1957, wasn't exactly appropriate viewing considering we're supposed to be so optomistic today, but if you want to see how politics and advertising (one and the same thing) really work it's required viewing. It predicted that image would become more important than the message, and those with the most money decided who got the most television exposure. Money, political and corporate, decided that Andy Griffith's Lonesome Rhodes would become a power -- a would-be President-maker -- in his own right, and he has never been scarier.
And that's the reality of politics in the modern day. Image and money, from special interests and big business, is what talks. Or at least approves the speeches and charts the course of campaigns. Bullshit walks.
The irony that our new President's swearing in comes the day after the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday hasn't been ignored. I definitely haven't ignored it, or one of the greatest lessons he had to teach us:
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today."
No one voted for Barack Obama just because he was black, and the incidental fact that he is black shouldn't matter in the context of his being President. One great man dreamed that character would be judged before one's skin color one day...but according to our political process, now more than ever, it's how one looks when they make their speeches that must be judged. But hopefully, even though the political process I've learned to hate brought him to the highest office in our country, I hope that his character will shine through and indeed bring our nation to better days.
Good luck to you, Mister President.
Good luck to all of us.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
The romance of the season, WANTED!
I've thought often of how we look at a given season of the year, and how we assign so much to it. Most of what we want to see in a time of year -- like the one we're in now, Winter -- is of a romantic ideal, and our anticipation of that romance. This is mostly because of outside influences, though. Those influences classic or contemporary shape our perception of what is best about a particular season. Take The Beach Boys...their many, MANY songs about endless Summer (if only) on the beach and what we're promised there overwhelms the reality, if only for a while.
But then Summer hits, and reality gives us a good kick in the ass. Blistering high temperatures alone cause a world of problems. When the well-named 'dog days' of the season arrive, life in the summertime starts to resemble a powderkeg. You've all been there.
Things are supposed to be a little different with Winter, though. I don't just mean with Season's Greetings and the buildup for Christmas and New Year's that's getting longer to endure each year. The images are constants that hit us and are remembered by us when Halloween ends, and the anticipation of the season and the best it has to offer are incredible. We see images of children and families in better-than-natural equilibrium with their snow-covered environment, whether going on a sleigh ride or snowball fighting. Lovers think of time curled together in front of a romantic fire, chestnuts roasting. There are many more examples but I won't bore you with them. You already know them.
Then Winter is official, and what we have to deal with is very different from the ideal. Comfort and joy are replaced with how dumb and foolish we can be more than half the time. The better-than-perfect times of snowball fights are replaced with the need to stay inside because the snow is often mixed with rain. Or ice. Or sleet. And again, people show how dumb they are half the time with their (lack of) ability to drive in such weather. And I don't have to remind you of the other things this season can hit us with.
Like flus and colds.
I just got hit by a flu bug today, not long after I recovered mostly from the LAST one. It makes everything hurt, and I feel the seductive need to be in bed to get away from the soreness, the cotton in my head. I will hit the sack soon...
...but I'll do so with this simple question.
Why can't we make the season the best it can be, instead of having to live with the worst it can offer half the time?
It may be useless to ask that, but I want to...I want the romance back.
But then Summer hits, and reality gives us a good kick in the ass. Blistering high temperatures alone cause a world of problems. When the well-named 'dog days' of the season arrive, life in the summertime starts to resemble a powderkeg. You've all been there.
Things are supposed to be a little different with Winter, though. I don't just mean with Season's Greetings and the buildup for Christmas and New Year's that's getting longer to endure each year. The images are constants that hit us and are remembered by us when Halloween ends, and the anticipation of the season and the best it has to offer are incredible. We see images of children and families in better-than-natural equilibrium with their snow-covered environment, whether going on a sleigh ride or snowball fighting. Lovers think of time curled together in front of a romantic fire, chestnuts roasting. There are many more examples but I won't bore you with them. You already know them.
Then Winter is official, and what we have to deal with is very different from the ideal. Comfort and joy are replaced with how dumb and foolish we can be more than half the time. The better-than-perfect times of snowball fights are replaced with the need to stay inside because the snow is often mixed with rain. Or ice. Or sleet. And again, people show how dumb they are half the time with their (lack of) ability to drive in such weather. And I don't have to remind you of the other things this season can hit us with.
Like flus and colds.
I just got hit by a flu bug today, not long after I recovered mostly from the LAST one. It makes everything hurt, and I feel the seductive need to be in bed to get away from the soreness, the cotton in my head. I will hit the sack soon...
...but I'll do so with this simple question.
Why can't we make the season the best it can be, instead of having to live with the worst it can offer half the time?
It may be useless to ask that, but I want to...I want the romance back.
Friday, January 2, 2009
It's a new year...
And I hope you understand that so far, I'm not feeling very optomistic...but I want to be.
Last year, we had to deal with a lot. This year we may have to deal with just as many problems, if not more, even with a new President at the helm of our country. I don't foresee Barack Obama being able to accomplish much at first, either, just as I wouldn't expect a lot from John McCain if he'd gotten the most votes. (It's important I state it in that way, in 'the most votes', because I don't see the election of one person or another in any office definitive unless EVERYONE votes...fat chance of that ever happening.) I see politics as creating more problems than they solve, anyway...but this topic is for another time. Maybe. I don't like talking about politics, either.
In the end, it's how we look at everything around us that ultimately affects everything. Perception of reality is just as important as reality itself. And what did we perceive? Not a lot of good, in the end. Whose fault is that? Is it the fault of our media outlets, in print and over the airwaves and online? Is it the blame of those who create the state of affairs as we must deal with them?
No.
In the end, it's our fault...all of us should be held accountable for how things got so bad in 2008, and in so many ways. Because in the end, we all didn't come together to actually solve anything. President Bush didn't create the problems, and in the end his successor President-Elect Obama won't directly be the one to solve them, either. Because it comes down to everyone getting together to make things better.
We haven't done that yet, and we may not...it might take the perception from those media outlets to show us good news to turn our outlook around, at least a little. But why can't we do that ourselves? Because we've been overwhelmed with what we had to deal with in 2008. The problems we faced, from recession at home to international uncertainty, seemed too big. We each can't find a sure solution...even Obama is getting together those he knows and trusts to form a strategy to turn the recession around. We all let doubt and fear get the best of us. We each think that we live in a bottle and that we each can't do much...and worse still, that a given problem that's affecting everyone won't affect us.
Let me make this clear: I hate fear and doubt.
What I believe in is common sense...that there can be solutions. I hope by saying that even though I'm not feeling optomistic I absolutely WANT to be to help us solve our problems, I hope at least that gets someone's attention. Whether it takes one of us or all of us, we have to rise above fear and doubt...neither of those things will help us solve anything, that's for damn sure.
I want to believe that this year will be much, much better than the last.
Maybe if we all believe that, maybe it'll be reality.
Happy New Year, everyone.
Last year, we had to deal with a lot. This year we may have to deal with just as many problems, if not more, even with a new President at the helm of our country. I don't foresee Barack Obama being able to accomplish much at first, either, just as I wouldn't expect a lot from John McCain if he'd gotten the most votes. (It's important I state it in that way, in 'the most votes', because I don't see the election of one person or another in any office definitive unless EVERYONE votes...fat chance of that ever happening.) I see politics as creating more problems than they solve, anyway...but this topic is for another time. Maybe. I don't like talking about politics, either.
In the end, it's how we look at everything around us that ultimately affects everything. Perception of reality is just as important as reality itself. And what did we perceive? Not a lot of good, in the end. Whose fault is that? Is it the fault of our media outlets, in print and over the airwaves and online? Is it the blame of those who create the state of affairs as we must deal with them?
No.
In the end, it's our fault...all of us should be held accountable for how things got so bad in 2008, and in so many ways. Because in the end, we all didn't come together to actually solve anything. President Bush didn't create the problems, and in the end his successor President-Elect Obama won't directly be the one to solve them, either. Because it comes down to everyone getting together to make things better.
We haven't done that yet, and we may not...it might take the perception from those media outlets to show us good news to turn our outlook around, at least a little. But why can't we do that ourselves? Because we've been overwhelmed with what we had to deal with in 2008. The problems we faced, from recession at home to international uncertainty, seemed too big. We each can't find a sure solution...even Obama is getting together those he knows and trusts to form a strategy to turn the recession around. We all let doubt and fear get the best of us. We each think that we live in a bottle and that we each can't do much...and worse still, that a given problem that's affecting everyone won't affect us.
Let me make this clear: I hate fear and doubt.
What I believe in is common sense...that there can be solutions. I hope by saying that even though I'm not feeling optomistic I absolutely WANT to be to help us solve our problems, I hope at least that gets someone's attention. Whether it takes one of us or all of us, we have to rise above fear and doubt...neither of those things will help us solve anything, that's for damn sure.
I want to believe that this year will be much, much better than the last.
Maybe if we all believe that, maybe it'll be reality.
Happy New Year, everyone.
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